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News & Views |
A boost for laser fusion
Inertial confinement represents one of two viable approaches for producing energy from the fusion of hydrogen isotopes. Scientists have now achieved a record yield of fusion energy when directly irradiating targets with only 28 kilojoules of laser energy.
- Vladimir Tikhonchuk
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Article |
Demonstration of hot-spot fuel gain exceeding unity in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions
Inertial confinement fusion experiments in a direct-drive configuration report more energy produced in deuterium–tritium fusion reactions than the amount of energy in the central part of the plasma created by laser irradiation of the fuel capsule.
- C. A. Williams
- , R. Betti
- & E. M. Campbell
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Article |
Demonstration of a hydrodynamically equivalent burning plasma in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion
Hydro-equivalent scaling of recent direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions shows that a burning plasma can be achieved with a higher laser energy.
- V. Gopalaswamy
- , C. A. Williams
- & C. Deeney
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Article |
Ion and electron acoustic bursts during anti-parallel magnetic reconnection driven by lasers
Ion acoustic bursts followed by electron acoustic bursts are observed during magnetic reconnection in a laboratory experiment. These bursts have been suggested to mediate energy dissipation.
- Shu Zhang
- , Abraham Chien
- & Hui Chen
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News & Views |
Power to the particles
Particles in space can be accelerated to high energy, the distribution of which follows a power law. This has now been reproduced in laboratory experiments mimicking astrophysical scenarios, which helps to understand the underlying mechanisms.
- Giovanni Lapenta
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Article |
Turbulent magnetic reconnection generated by intense lasers
Laboratory experiments reveal the underlying mechanism of turbulent reconnection, including electron acceleration. These findings are directly relevant for studies of flares in the solar corona.
- Yongli Ping
- , Jiayong Zhong
- & Jie Zhang
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Article |
Non-thermal electron acceleration from magnetically driven reconnection in a laboratory plasma
Laboratory experiments demonstrate that electrons are accelerated to high energies by the reconnection electric field in magnetically driven reconnection. This mechanism is expected to be relevant for many astrophysical environments.
- Abraham Chien
- , Lan Gao
- & Ryunosuke Takizawa
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News & Views |
Burning plasma surprise
In a burning plasma, fusion-born α particles are the dominant source of heating. In such conditions, the deuterium and tritium ion energy distribution deviates from the expected thermal Maxwellian distribution.
- Stefano Atzeni
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Article |
Evidence for suprathermal ion distribution in burning plasmas
Inertial confinement fusion experiments reveal a departure from the expected hydrodynamic behaviour of a plasma when the fusion reactions become the primary source of plasma heating.
- E. P. Hartouni
- , A. S. Moore
- & A. B. Zylstra
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Letter |
Direct observation of relativistic broken plasma waves
In a plasma-based accelerator, the amplitude of the plasma wave is constrained by the wavebreaking limit. Experiments reveal features of the plasma waves at the point at which wavebreaking occurs.
- Yang Wan
- , Omri Seemann
- & Victor Malka
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Editorial |
Accelerate to the next level
The merits of conventional particle accelerators range from fundamental science to applications like radiotherapy. Plasma-based accelerators are getting up to speed and may overtake conventional ones in the near future.
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News & Views |
Ready for translational research
Laser accelerators promised to deliver high-energy particle beams for biomedical uses, but have struggled to meet constraints on dose control and stability. An experiment now enables translational research with proton beams at ultrahigh dose rate.
- Leonida A. Gizzi
- & Maria Grazia Andreassi
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Article
| Open AccessTumour irradiation in mice with a laser-accelerated proton beam
A laser–plasma accelerator provides proton beams for the precise irradiation of human tumours in a mouse model. This work advances translational research with ultrahigh proton dose rates at laser-driven sources.
- Florian Kroll
- , Florian-Emanuel Brack
- & Elke Beyreuther
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Letter
| Open AccessDesign of inertial fusion implosions reaching the burning plasma regime
In burning plasma, alpha particles from fusion reactions are the dominant source of heating. The design choices that resulted in reaching this state in experiments at the National Ignition Facility are reported.
- A. L. Kritcher
- , C. V. Young
- & G. B. Zimmerman
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Article |
Laboratory evidence for proton energization by collisionless shock surfing
Proton acceleration by a super-critical collisionless shock is observed in laboratory experiments, and numerical simulations suggest shock surfing as the underlying acceleration mechanism.
- W. Yao
- , A. Fazzini
- & J. Fuchs
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News & Views |
Reflections off a relativistic mirror
High-order harmonics of laser pulses yield spectral components with shorter wavelength and duration and tighter focus than the original pulse. Precise spatiotemporal characterization of this radiation from a relativistic plasma mirror is relevant for ultrafast science.
- Laszlo Veisz
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Spatio-temporal characterization of attosecond pulses from plasma mirrors
Relativistic mirrors are a promising tool to reach laser intensities up to the Schwinger limit. Such a mirror is created in ultra-intense laser–solid interactions, and its temporal and spatial effects on the reflected laser beam are characterized.
- Ludovic Chopineau
- , Adrien Denoeud
- & Fabien Quéré
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Letter |
High-throughput injection–acceleration of electron bunches from a linear accelerator to a laser wakefield accelerator
Previously, injections from a conventional accelerator into a plasma-based one suffered from low coupling efficiencies. Now electron bunches are injected with an efficiency of nearly 100% into a laser wakefield accelerator without loss of charge.
- Yipeng Wu
- , Jianfei Hua
- & Chan Joshi
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Article |
Low-divergence femtosecond X-ray pulses from a passive plasma lens
X-ray pulses with low divergences are produced in a laser-wakefield accelerator by focusing electron bunches in a dense passive plasma lens.
- Jonas Björklund Svensson
- , Diego Guénot
- & Olle Lundh
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Q&A |
Inside ITER
The First Plasma discharge in the ITER tokamak is expected for 2025 with deuterium–tritium plasma operation ten years later. We spoke with ITER’s Director-General, Bernard Bigot, and Tim Luce, head of ITER’s Science & Operations Department, about the current status of the project and potential future directions in fusion research.
- Stefanie Reichert
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Editorial |
The way ahead for fusion
As the construction of the ITER tokamak enters its next phase — the machine assembly — now is a good time for a recap of the history and current status of nuclear fusion research.
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News & Views |
Miniature supernova shock waves
A laser–plasma experiment has recreated shock waves in collisionless, weakly magnetized conditions and evidenced electron acceleration to relativistic energies, offering unprecedented insight into a long-standing problem in astrophysics.
- Laurent Gremillet
- & Martin Lemoine
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Letter |
Electron acceleration in laboratory-produced turbulent collisionless shocks
In laser–plasma experiments complemented by simulations, electron acceleration is observed in turbulent collisionless shocks. This work clarifies the pre-acceleration to relativistic energies required for the onset of diffusive shock acceleration.
- F. Fiuza
- , G. F. Swadling
- & H.-S. Park
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Growth of concomitant laser-driven collisionless and resistive electron filamentation instabilities over large spatiotemporal scales
In the interaction of ultraintense, short laser pulses with solid targets, the collisionless Weibel instability is observed. For a sufficiently high resistivity of the target, an additional resistive instability appears.
- C. Ruyer
- , S. Bolaños
- & J. Fuchs
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Enhanced energy coupling for indirect-drive fast-ignition fusion targets
Experiments realizing the indirect-drive fast ignition scheme for inertial confinement fusion are reported. Enabled by a tightly compressed target, an increase of neutron yield is observed.
- F. Zhang
- , H. B. Cai
- & X. T. He
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News & Views |
To degeneracy and back
Experiments carried out at the National Ignition Facility show that the degree of degeneracy can be varied for an electron plasma. Partially degenerate electron plasmas make up most of the interiors of low mass stars, brown dwarfs and giant planets.
- Adam J. Burgasser
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Plasma stopping-power measurements reveal transition from non-degenerate to degenerate plasmas
Transitions between non-degenerate and degenerate plasma are observed in laser-driven implosions of cryogenic capsules at the National Ignition Facility. The observed partially degenerate regime is relevant to the physics of young brown dwarfs.
- A. C. Hayes
- , M. E. Gooden
- & D. Schneider
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Letter |
Impact of the Langdon effect on crossed-beam energy transfer
In inertial confinement fusion experiments, the effect of the overlapping laser beams on the plasma is predicted to lead to a distortion of the electron distribution function, which has now been observed in experiments.
- David Turnbull
- , Arnaud Colaïtis
- & Dustin H. Froula
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Enhanced energy coupling for indirectly driven inertial confinement fusion
High coupling efficiency between laser-induced hohlraum X-rays and targets is essential for reaching long-sought regimes for viable inertial confinement fusion. Experiments with a rugby hohlraum shape and an improved capsule now allow demonstration of more than 30%.
- Y. Ping
- , V. A. Smalyuk
- & D. Montgomery
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Letter |
Electron acceleration by wave turbulence in a magnetized plasma
Electrons can be accelerated by astrophysical shocks if they are sufficiently fast to start with. As laboratory laser-produced shock experiments reveal, this can be achieved by lower-hybrid waves generated by a shock-reflected ion instability.
- A. Rigby
- , F. Cruz
- & G. Gregori
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Article |
Plasma-based beam combiner for very high fluence and energy
In a hot, under-dense plasma, eight input beams are combined into a single, well-collimated beam, whose energy is more than triple than that of any incident beam. This shows how nonlinear interactions in plasmas can produce optics beams at much higher intensity than possible in solids.
- R. K. Kirkwood
- , D. P. Turnbull
- & B. E. Blue
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Thermonuclear reactions probed at stellar-core conditions with laser-based inertial-confinement fusion
Nuclear reactions taking place in stars are not straightforward to study in laboratories on Earth. Now, inertial-confinement fusion implosion experiments are reported that mimic the conditions for the hydrogen-burning phase in main-sequence stars.
- D. T. Casey
- , D. B. Sayre
- & T. G. Parham
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Letter |
Collisionless momentum transfer in space and astrophysical explosions
Larmor coupling is a collisionless momentum exchange mechanism believed to occur in various astrophysical and space-plasma environments. The phenomenon is now observed in a laboratory experiment.
- A. S. Bondarenko
- , D. B. Schaeffer
- & C. Niemann
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Letter |
Plasma holograms for ultrahigh-intensity optics
Plasma optics enables the manipulation of highly intense laser beams. Now, plasma holograms, involving the creation of a modulated plasma surface on a solid target, are reported — for example, plasma hologram fork gratings produce optical vortices.
- A. Leblanc
- , A. Denoeud
- & F. Quéré
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Review Article |
Inertial-confinement fusion with lasers
The quest for energy production from controlled nuclear fusion reactions has been ongoing for many decades. Here, the inertial confinement fusion approach, based on heating and compressing a fuel pellet with intense lasers, is reviewed.
- R. Betti
- & O. A. Hurricane
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Inertially confined fusion plasmas dominated by alpha-particle self-heating
Inertial confinement fusion, based on laser-heating a deuterium–tritium mixture, is one of the approaches towards energy production from fusion reactions. Now, record energy-yield experiments are reported—bringing us closer to ignition conditions.
- O. A. Hurricane
- , D. A. Callahan
- & C. Yeamans
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Optically controlled dense current structures driven by relativistic plasma aperture-induced diffraction
Shining intense laser light onto a thin aluminium foil creates a relativistic plasma aperture—and diffraction. As a result, an electron beam is generated with a spatial structure that can be changed by varying the characteristics of the laser pulse.
- Bruno Gonzalez-Izquierdo
- , Ross J. Gray
- & Paul McKenna
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Visualizing fast electron energy transport into laser-compressed high-density fast-ignition targets
Fast-ignition laser fusion involves directing an intense relativistic electron beam onto a fuel target. Experiments and simulations now enable a visualization of the location of fast electrons and the energy-coupling mechanisms at play.
- L. C. Jarrott
- , M. S. Wei
- & F. N. Beg
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Vacuum laser acceleration of relativistic electrons using plasma mirror injectors
Exploiting lasers for accelerating charged particles to relativistic velocities has long been theoretically considered. Now, applying a plasma mirror for injecting electrons into an intense laser field in vacuum is shown to lead to such acceleration.
- M. Thévenet
- , A. Leblanc
- & J. Faure
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Letter |
Ptychographic measurements of ultrahigh-intensity laser–plasma interactions
Experimentally probing the dynamics of laser–plasma interactions is hard, owing to the nature of the relevant temporal and spatial scales at play. Ptychography, a phase-problem solving technique, can help the analysis of such interaction measurements.
- A. Leblanc
- , S. Monchocé
- & F. Quéré
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Persistence of magnetic field driven by relativistic electrons in a plasma
In laboratory experiments, strong magnetic fields at the boundary of a plasma can be generated by means of laser-wakefield acceleration, enabling the study of magnetization processes in scaled versions of astrophysical plasmas.
- A. Flacco
- , J. Vieira
- & V. Malka
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News & Views |
How to spark a field
The successful formation of self-generated magnetic fields in the lab using large-scale, high-power lasers opens the door to a better understanding of some of the most extreme astrophysical processes taking place in the Universe.
- Francisco Suzuki-Vidal